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Wine stands for "Wine is not an emulator" and it is an open source command-line software that's capable of translating Windows API calls into POSIX calls on-the-fly for integrating Windows applications into your Linux/UNIX desktop. For regular Linux users, the above means that the Wine software will allow them to run applications which are designed to be installed only on Microsoft Windows operating systems.

PlayOnLinux, Crossover, Q4Wine, Bordeaux, Pipelight, Swine, WineXS, and winetricks are some of the most popular Wine GUI (Graphical User Interface) front-ends on Linux. On Mac OS X you can use the Wineskin, WineBottler and osxwinebuilder apps. Also, the application is not only supported on the Linux platform, as it is also compatible with other POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as BSD (FreeBSD, PC-BSD), OpenSolaris, and Mac OS X.

# Wine makes it possible to take advantage of all the Unix strong points (stability, flexibility, remote administration) while still using the Windows applications you depend on.
# Unix has always made it possible to write powerful scripts. Wine makes it possible to call Windows applications from scripts that can also leverage the Unix environment to its full extent.
# Wine makes it possible to access Windows applications remotely, even if they are a few thousand miles away.
# Wine makes it economical to use thin clients: simply install Wine on a Linux server, and voila, you can access these Windows applications from any X terminal.
# Wine can also be used to make existing Windows applications available on the Web by using VNC and its Java client.
# Wine is Open Source Software, so you can extend it to suit your needs or have one of many companies do it for you.